DenRus

[BDA]

I have also had a problem of not receiving a response from Denrus to my emails. Remember that there is a time difference as well as a probable difference in their work schedule. I did get the following message from Denrus today "there is a banking holiday here for today and tomorrow - Victory Day. You will be answered on Wednesday." Hopefully this at least partially explains the problem we are having.

[thespook]

Are we misreading your posting? Are you sure about the date you got the response as the 24th of May? Today is May 7th.

If you meant April then I would call them directly and not continue with trying with email since your emails are going unanswered.

Could be they are not receiving your emails or your not receiving their responses for some reason...

 

Good luck.

Julia

 

Hi Julia,

Want to thank you for your reply. Yes, I messed up the date in the email. It should read April for all of the dates, not May. Thank you again for your reply.

 

Spook

[thespook]

Hi again. Since you aren't suppose to receive your tickets until the

May 26th, you still have a few weeks to wait to get your tickets. If you made a mistake in your post and meant April, then I would suggest you call DenRus directly to inquire. As someone else just posted, it appears its a holiday in Russia and the offices are closed and won't open again until

Wednesday, May 10th. Here is a website link to a contact number here in the US. http://www.denrus.ru/contact-denrus.html for when you do call.

 

Julia

Hi again Julia,

The link you provided is one to which I had sent multiple emails and also have left multiple voice mails on. Alas, still have yet to hear from DenRus. Hopefully I can make some contact on Wednesday. Appreciate your helpful advice.

Spook

[CamelliaCity]

I went online and ordered our tickets April 7, got immediate confirmation, and by April 10 we had our four Shore Excursion Tickets printed out and placed inside our package. They are for September 16 and 17.

 

We are extremely happy with their service.

[thespook]

I too was initially working with Stan a few months ago. However, he moved into a different part of the company and another tour organizer took over my account from him. Her name is Olga T. and she has been extremely prompt and responsive. I hope I don't get in trouble for this, but her email address is: OlgaT@denrus.ru Not sure where you are in the US. I'm in the NW and St. Petersburg is 11 hours ahead in time. Hope this helps!

 

Hi MaxCat,

Thanks for the tip, but I would have thought that Stan had a bit more professonialism than to just move on without letting his clients know, and not provide a new contact name. You won't get in any trouble for providing Olga's name, in fact they should give you a bottle of wine for saving one of their tours. I will try Olgas' link on Wed, and hopefully we can salvage our tour. The wife is ready to cancel although it would be a pity. This is our 40th anniversary trip and we were looking forward to the itenerary that DenRus had on their web site. I am on the East Coast not too far from NY. Again, appreciate your help. What ship are you sailing on, pehaps we may meet.

 

Spook

[thespook]

I went online and ordered our tickets April 7, got immediate confirmation, and by April 10 we had our four Shore Excursion Tickets printed out and placed inside our package. They are for September 16 and 17.

 

We are extremely happy with their service.

 

I am very happy for you, just wish that we were as lucky. Hopefully we can still make our tour on the 5th and 6th of June.

 

Spook

[raymac]

Spook- I am having exactly the same experience as you for our booking for 6/21-22--unanswered emails and voice messages, no further contact after the "tour tickets will be sent tomorrow" email, Stan--everything. Thanks to everyone for your advice, and I will pursue.

[bpolan]

I've read all the postings about great guides, etc on both denrus and red october, my only question is were these custom tours or the standard 2 day package on their websites?

bpolan

[virgenia]

I was having the same problem with Stan. Had not received our tickets altho he had indicated they were being sent. I finally got thru to him and he responded that they had been sent as promised but that AOL accounts (what I have) often have a problem getting stuff thru. He used a different address to send the tickets by email which were then received promptly. The email he used at that time was stan@nevanet.net. The other email address he was using was fit@denrus.ru. Try sending your email to both of these addresses and see what happens.

[GigiT]

I was having the same problem with Stan. Had not received our tickets altho he had indicated they were being sent. I finally got thru to him and he responded that they had been sent as promised but that AOL accounts (what I have) often have a problem getting stuff thru. He used a different address to send the tickets by email which were then received promptly. The email he used at that time was stan@nevanet.net. The other email address he was using was fit@denrus.ru. Try sending your email to both of these addresses and see what happens.

 

Hi, we've intention to book the tour with DenRus. Pls adv. if all the tickets are sent by email. Is this ticket (the email print out) together with the passport will be used when disembark the ship to join the tour. Will there be any ticket sent by mail (post office). thanks for yr advice.

gigiT

[virgenia]

GigiT,

 

The tour tickets are sent by email. You will need these, your passport, and a copy of your passport. Passport control apparently keeps the original passport, you have your copy and you will also receive a red immigration card from passport control that you need to have at all times on shore. They return your original passport to you when you re-embark. The tour tickets have your name (as on your passport) and you will have one for each of the days of touring.

 

You can read about this on the Denrus website, although this website is a little confusing. You may not be able to access this information until you establish a log in account.

[Artemis]

To clarify, unless they have changed the procedure, the Russian authorities do not retain your passport.

[thespook]

To all that have had problems with replies from DenRus and Stan. Was on the phone with Stan this morning and found out that they were unable to enter their building for the past week due to some local problems. My problem with no replies to email was that there was a misreading of my email address and the replies were sent to a non existent account through an error. All has been resolved and I did apologize to Stan for some of my critical emails to him and Denrus. These are wonderful people to do business with and I am very happy that we chose them for our tour when we get to ST. Petersburg. He informed us that they had over 1100 emails to attend to when they got into the office this morning. So be paitient, you will get a response. Thanks to all that offered their input to my dilemma, it was really appreciated. Hope everyone has a great vacation.

 

 

Spook.

[sandyruth]

i am waiting replies to 3 emails from denrus,why cant they access through another computer? it sound like a lame excuse

[thespook]

i am waiting replies to 3 emails from denrus,why cant they access through another computer? it sound like a lame excuse

 

Hi,

Dont know if you got the chance to read my previous response. The people at Denrus have been out of the office for the past week. They just got back into the offices today. I am sure that you will receive a response to your emails asap. I can relate to your frustration as I have had the same problem the past 2 weeks waiting for a response. Just be paitent, they will get to you. If you had seen my recent response, they have approx 1100 emails to go thru as they just returned to the office today. Wishing you the best.

 

Spook

[Artemis]

It's good to hear Spook's update.

 

We are all downright spoiled by the instancy of email! Naturally, then, it is frustrating when email communications are delayed. However, Denrus is a solid company with great customer service, and I am glad, Spook, that your confidence in them has been restored. Your trust will be repaid a thousand times over once you get there. We toured SPb with Denrus last summer, and the guide and driver exceeded expectations (as did the office staff over the course of our pre-arrival communications).

 

Sandyruth, it sounds like you will receive an answer soon. From my perspective as a business person, I absolutely would not want my staff attempting to handle email business from their home computers, for any number of reasonable challenges, e.g., Will duplicate incoming/outgoing messages be stored on a central server for subsequent retrieval at the office, or will they be forever downloaded and local to the employee's computer? Will employees have all of the information and tools necessary at home to provide meaningful assistance to the clients? Do the employees even have a computer at home? Internet service? Internet service greater than dial-up, i.e., robust enough to handle the volume of messages and all of the attachments common to tour company email communications? etc.

 

I'm sure Denrus will prioritize resumption of client communications by date of arrival, so those who will be in SPb very soon should hear from them first.

 

I wish you both and everyone else doing the Baltics this summer a wonderful trip!

[elainec]

To all who have had issues, I am glad we saw this thread. We had booked a value excursion on 4/28 for the Evening Folklore show and received an order confirmation right away, but no tickets. After reading this thread, we sent an email to Olga who responded today. (Now we know why!) I'm sure everything is being taken care of. We leave on May 15th for the May 20th sailing on Constellation. I know we'll have a great trip and Denrus will see that we are taken care of.

 

Thanks for everyone keeping us informed.

 

Elaine

[Juliadlf]

To all that have had problems with replies from DenRus and Stan. Was on the phone with Stan this morning and found out that they were unable to enter their building for the past week due to some local problems. My problem with no replies to email was that there was a misreading of my email address and the replies were sent to a non existent account through an error. All has been resolved and I did apologize to Stan for some of my critical emails to him and Denrus. These are wonderful people to do business with and I am very happy that we chose them for our tour when we get to ST. Petersburg. He informed us that they had over 1100 emails to attend to when they got into the office this morning. So be paitient, you will get a response. Thanks to all that offered their input to my dilemma, it was really appreciated. Hope everyone has a great vacation.

 

 

Spook.

 

So glad you got it resolved. We are using DenRus in August for a custom tour with fellow CC'ers on our roll call. We too are very excited about visiting St.Petersburg and believe DenRus will provide a great 2 days for us.

 

Have a wonderful 40th anniversary!!

 

Julia

[daju22]

You're welcome. Sometimes it's difficult to find information on the site. You can find links on the left column and on the top(they fade out easily if you're not careful with your pointer).

[thespook]

Just want to say that we have just returned from our cruise and we used DenRus as our tour guides in St.Petersburg. I can't tell you how supremely satisfied we were with our guides. Anna, our tour guide was stupendous, very knowledgeable and really sweet. We had 10 people in our group and it felt like a small family for the 2 days we were there. Our driver Andrew was very nice too. Had some nice conversations with him while others were on a tour inside a church or elsewhere. Cant tell you how much these people meant to us. They really made our time there fantastic. I would wholeheartedly recommend DenRus as your tour guide in Russia. Forget the tours supplied by the cruise companies, they are a rip off. All I can say at this point is, go with DenRus and hope that you get someone like Anna as your guide,she was terrific. Kudos DenRus.

 

The Spook

[daju22]

Hi thespook,

Thanks for letting us know that you had a great tour with Denrus. These negative posts make everyone nervous.

Judy

[spearmint]

Just want to say that we have just returned from our cruise and we used DenRus as our tour guides in St.Petersburg. I can't tell you how supremely satisfied we were with our guides. Anna, our tour guide was stupendous, very knowledgeable and really sweet. We had 10 people in our group and it felt like a small family for the 2 days we were there. Our driver Andrew was very nice too. Had some nice conversations with him while others were on a tour inside a church or elsewhere. Cant tell you how much these people meant to us. They really made our time there fantastic. I would wholeheartedly recommend DenRus as your tour guide in Russia. Forget the tours supplied by the cruise companies, they are a rip off. All I can say at this point is, go with DenRus and hope that you get someone like Anna as your guide,she was terrific. Kudos DenRus.

 

The Spook

 

Thanks for the update! Did you take a custom tour or did you go with the value excursion?

[Reggie1]

What do you recommend tipping your guide and driver?

[Juliadlf]

Just want to say that we have just returned from our cruise and we used DenRus as our tour guides in St.Petersburg. I can't tell you how supremely satisfied we were with our guides. Anna, our tour guide was stupendous, very knowledgeable and really sweet. We had 10 people in our group and it felt like a small family for the 2 days we were there. Our driver Andrew was very nice too. Had some nice conversations with him while others were on a tour inside a church or elsewhere. Cant tell you how much these people meant to us. They really made our time there fantastic. I would wholeheartedly recommend DenRus as your tour guide in Russia. Forget the tours supplied by the cruise companies, they are a rip off. All I can say at this point is, go with DenRus and hope that you get someone like Anna as your guide,she was terrific. Kudos DenRus.

 

The Spook

 

I guess the saying "All good things come to those who wait" is true.

Glad you had a good tour. Our turn is coming up soon....

 

Julia

[KiranK]

I am new to all this and I am taking my first cruise with Oceania in May 2007. I will be in St Petersberg for 2 days. It seems that no one does the crusie excursions and you all seem to book through Red October or Denrus, are the cruise booked excursions that bad?